Hanzel

Hmmmmmm.....this must be a trend, this year I am reading books that are 300+ pages or less, but I am quite surprised, some of them are quite good, like this gem by Mr. Olivo!!

Ok, I am truly fond of deities, demons and dragons, unfortunately this one is missing the dragon part(or the author has not yet started), Demigods, some are powerful, some are not, in this case Corinthos is less powerful in our reality than in the reality that he is worshiped as a god, I like the way Mr. Olivo portrayed our protagonists and antagonists, knowing your opponent is a deity or son of a deity, does not necessarily mean the day is won, our characters in this story, not only were they the underdogs, they have been manipulated and were one step behind throughout, the saving grace for this company is the rather fast thinking of some of their members.

I sincerely think this series, deserves a lot of praise and more commercialism to make it known to other book readers!!! So PLEASE READ THIS IMPERIUM BY Nicholas Olivo!!!! There is something different to it!!!! Enjoy!!!!!

Mr. Tucker's best work yet, I can not believe what just happened, I am truly waiting for book 4!!!!!

Now some thoughts, Medusa, Trolls (usually we have the regular ones, on this universe we have stone trolls, more like stone elemental) and Wyverns, usually these opponents are relegated to what uhhhh novice to beginner level, but Mr. Tucker was able to make them the most feared opponents, from the way they were used to their abilities, of course we can not discount Tharok's (together with the iron circlet) ingenuity.

Are the kragh the equivalent of orcs in D&D??? Virtues, Asho, Audsley, Iskra, Tiron and the other notables, what will happen next???

Aside from Dragons, Demons, Devils and the Pantheons of all mythological Deities, Next on my read list is Ghosts, who does not want the slight shivering when something crosses your peripheral in a dark room ,the turning your head back, looking over your shoulder feeling, hair standing on your arms and legs whenever you start reading ghost stories.......................

Well, this was a fun read, although a short, short one, stereotypes abound (well, still do not care much for spoilers, so any of you who want to know what happened, READ!!!), I felt like this was more for the 13+ but not older than 16+ age bracket, story simple and straight-forward, so ummmmm yeah like I mentioned good book to start with, if you are having trouble going back into those thick, thick books, or just looking for something new or fresh!!!!

It did what a good story should do, think, a bit of goosebumps, and finally go and look for more ghosts!!! I will sincerely follow the author's newest story however!!!!

Sci-Fi, military action, again this January, I am starting something new here, short books(???!!), I was quite surprised that I finished this over five days........

Okay, Argonauts a group of Ex-Moth's(no I have no idea who or what they are except maybe some sort of space marines??? They do ride some battle suits ala Robotech not the Valkyrie types though), who do security consultations(newest term for mercs or security personnels, according to this story though) headed by Rade Galaal, they start of the story. escaping from a human trafficker and from there goes into the main story, escorting a new client into achieving said client's goal, therein lies the twist and turn to this narrative, I maybe missing some books here since most of the time, there are references to something I truly have no idea (ummmm hardpoints, the mechs/battle suits they use, the war that they came from before establishing this particular consultation group), still the minor lack of information did not hinder me from enjoying the story.

SO!!! On to book two!!!

I sincerely want this one to be a 5 star book, so many concepts,unheard of mythological creatures, so much information, but unfortunately that is what hurt this one..............too much info and the author's narration/take on the said info.........

I have lived my life with the stories of the Greek pantheon, the Norse Mythology, the Aztec's bloodthirtsty religion, the Christian Belief, the numerous saints, deities of both Japanese and Chinese culture, and yes this is how excited I was to read this narrative, ten pages in, excitement rose to barely contained glee, so much characters and then.............um focus just got entangled, ahhhhh.......ok so this trio went in search of who??? Oh, they have a master and this master is????? then the narrative ends on to the main story...........

Ok, now the life of the main human protagonists are introduced, and yes Chapter Two, and what a new character???? Oh this one is not human, and ok Chapter 3 and we switch to the humans again, and Chapter 4, oh new characters different from Chapter 2, and???!! and???!!! and..........well that was how I read the whole book, different point of views by different characters, you would get someone introduced, ran several pages of story, jump again to the previous characters and so forth and so on, I love books that narrates the different characters' points of views, because it makes the heroes and villains of this books seem alive!!! But sometimes too much of something is also bad, like this one, of course the main human protagonists story continued, but the non human or Deva characters got the short changed method, further along the book, the narration gets better, but my excitement of reading a new take on the those aforementioned deities and demons, slowly disappeared, I love the characters Tanuki, Asterion, Arges, Ao Guang, Baphomet, and A WHOLE LOT MORE, but Mr. Ashton did not elaborate on them!!!

Maybe this was supposed to be Fiona and Zeke's origin story, but why go to the trouble of introducing a whole lot more, if they were just a prelude of things to come and the saving grace of the three Baphomet, Ao Guang, and Dimmi got captivated and in effects becoming a thrall of another major(?) character.......................

Even with the helter skelter type of story telling it still was an enjoyable book, hopefully the second one would truly tell the story of the other Deva's and not just snatches of info.

Whenever you like a book, you exclude everything, just so you can finish it, well four days is already a long long time for me.

I have read a lot before coming back to this wonderful series, especially after the third book's end, with that in mind, I was hoping for something major to happen, new technology, new aliens, so many
assumptions.........with that I sat down to read.............

Four days later, as I was putting down the book, every expectations, assumptions was not only unanswered, the end was a little different from what I wanted, again a saving grace from an unexpected and unwanted source, siggghhhh..........so much potential and in the end..............

Still, the end of this series is at hand, with that book six beckons!!!!!!

Hmmmmm........Sandstorm not bad, but not that good either, since this is my first time with this author, I will continue reading this series!!!

Every Indiana Jones/Archaelogical Adventure type of story, the reader must be with the first few pages ummmm stuck to the narrative (this was true with Mr. Golemon's Event series for me), as I have said this was my first Mr. Rollins book, so maybe the pedestal was a bit high............well he started a bit on the slow side, characters introduced and a bit of twist already, and we have not yet reached 10% of the book, so our protagonists and antagonists are introduced, and the story starts to roll...........I find this first book to be different, none of the mystic like atmosphere that I usually enjoy and yet I finished it, is this more scientific, maybe since every explanation uses science, so plus for his style!!!

By the books end, I am a bit hanging on the idea, if to continue with the Sigma Force or not, well scientifically yes, for the author tries to explain scientific phenomenon and ideas as simple as possible, yes Sir and Madam, absolutely no magic(ssiiiiiigghhhhhhhhhhh..........), so I guess book two then!!!!

After a long long hiatus from the Malazans, I have finally finished Book 9, what can I say everything is converging and nothing, I do not have any inkling on how this series will end...........

It just shows how Mr. Erikson, with 8 books in this series, IS still able to make you guess on what will happen and how...........a lot of readers really feel lost on his style of writing and yes I do too (I am still lost with Badalle's story), but by the books end some of this questions are answered!!!

An apt description of this book, it's title, some of the things go back to being dust, and every major player/character is dreaming of something!!!! Trying to review the Malazans, before maybe books 1 to 6 was easy, the story is linear, you have the start, fights, middle, more fighting and end, but the latter part of this series, it seems Mr. Erikson changed pace, we have more procrastinations, too much self analysis and less linear story...........

Looking at the end part of the book, I can not help but notice Mr. Erikson is an archaelogist, a real one, maybe just maybe, just like his calling, his stories are meant to be dug deeper???

Still an entertaining read minus some of those uhhhhhhh......chapters........and finally the Malazans one of the best army, I have ever read meet their match.......and we also have the different deities, ascendants, their part is almost over...............

Having the talented Brandon Sanderson on your team is a big plus, the second book on this awesome team up, and story is getting near the end, everything from the pacing, actions of every character, even the villains!!!!

It has been nearly two years since I read The Gathering Storm, I have missed the different personalities be they the heroes or the villains, as usual being the heroes they seek to unite themselves to have a better chance at Tarmon Gai'don, and being the avatars of evil, treachery is in the air, sometimes being evil means you are always alone, always looking over your shoulder, always sizing up your nearest competition!!!!

Rand still as strong as ever, but a change has come upon him, now he accepts everything that happens and does not seek to undo it, Perrin the lone wolf(ahhhh pun not intended)finally accepts the reality that he is one of the better commanders in this Final Battle, no more whining of “I am a not a lord, only a blacksmith” and of course who does not love the pain in the butt and always ducking his head after doing something audacious Matrim or Mat, it so refreshing to see them so experienced and acting like the heroes that they are and legends to be, normally I try to find a middle ground regarding this story and try to highlight or put a spotlight on the villains, unfortunately everything is backstab here, envy there, and so forth and on, there were twelve chosen now they are down to 4 plus Moridin, if these were my opponents, I would wait and let them kill each other saves me the trouble and the energy that I will need in taking down the Dark One!!!! We still have Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve, Gawyn, Galad and Bashere, Tuon and the Seanchan, the Black Ajah, the Asha'man so many figures, but so little story to tell!!!!

And so it comes the end of An Age, Tarmon Gai'don, and every one is waiting at the fields of Merrilor!!!!

Whenever you read the second book on a trilogy, quadrology or in a series, it's either a hit or a complete miss, and believe me, I have read a lot, this one Dragonfly Falling is a bonafide HIT!!!!

From the moment I read about the insect-kinden, I was already interested, the perfect blend of insect to human traits, Mr. Tchaikovsky has a true follower with me, a bit wary at first since I truly despise the arachnids(damn heebie jeebies!!!! BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!), again much to my surprise, I actually like the portrayal of the so called spider-kinden(still writing as fast as I can because I do not want to be reminded), this universe is starting to unfold bit by bit, and such a wonderful read!!

Definitely the star of this book is the ant-kinden and how they treat others of their kind, much like in real life, they are fearless, numerous and truly destructive(ever killed a roach and caught one ant put it on the roach, within minutes you will see a lot of ants, dismembering the carcass and bringing it with them!!) Reading through the battle, one would think if the ants were as big and intelligent as the humans, who would truly conquer who????

One of the best series so far, and I still have seven more books to go through!!!!!

The best of the three, as I have said before, I LOVE VILLAINS!!!!!! And within the warhammer universe, both heroes and villains have their own story to tell, be they chaos tainted, beastmen, druiichi and so forth!!

Now this is good example of villains being the protagonist and the antagonist, we have one of the Champion of Tzeentch Urbaal, one of his sorcerers, Vakaan, A kurgan Toolku, and the rescued Norscan slave Kormak, on a mission to the Bastion Stairs to free one of Tzeentch's foremost demon, and rid the taint of Khorne who imprisoned said demon, along their journey, they meet up with some Druiich notable among them, Pyra, Beblieth, Naagan, and then some orcs led by Gorgut, thus the story revolves around their machinations and the goal of ridding the Bastion Stair of Khorne's influence to be replaced by each factions Deity, so we have the characters, their motives and last but not the least, the object to make this particular quest a surety, the Spear of Myrmidia(hope I am not wrong, if I am, I sincerely apologize)!!!

What happens if you put a group of villains together with a powerful artifact and motives that differ from one another, you get backstabbing at its finest, of course the druiichi would be the frontrunner of this act, and as the story progresses, it shows, so much treachery that they make the chaos tainted seem heroic!!

I love the story from the beginning to its conclusion, warhammer villains at their worst,and hey they get to enjoy a happy ever after, of course if you stand with the heroes, it still means you are doomed!!!! Hahahahahah!!!!!

Yes, I really wish goodreads update their rating category, not a lot books are straight 5, 4, and so forth, well I was surprised I actually gave a 4.5, let me think why.........

Character-wise, I love most of them, cept for Rafe, Crain, and Helfach, nobody ever likes a bully!!! Even Nathair, being used and still sees himself as the Bright Star, Calidus and Alcyon the most enigmatic pair in this book, I can not wait to see who those two turn out to be, ok now for the heroes, Gar, always an overpowered fighter/mage/paladin etc, living in the shadows to help our main protagonist, what is wrong with all this great people are???? Corban, ummmm still developing, Dath and Farrell my favorites, your requisite small but fast and slow but big and strong companions, hey we still have cywen, kastell and veradis, a lot of names and different personalities!!!

Mr. Gwynne, something is missing to add more ummphhh to your story, as it is, I am still very very interested with this realm/universe/world, and now Book 2!!!!

Immortality, sans the emotion and human-ness, is that what will happen, when the time comes???

My first Michael R. Fletcher, humor with a sense of darkness, a world where death is just an after-thought, unfinished business?? Be scanned, then you can live much longer, there is a catch though, you will not feel a thing or feel nothing.

Think Robocop II, wherein they harvest the brains of those criminals and then put them inside robotic bodies, that have all sorts of function, military, sanitary, aerial and so forth and so on, I really want to continue this series, so I am hoping he furthers his stories!!!

But please enough of the cyberpunk/japan style, they have their own version, if you want to use it Sir, please, there are also other cultures worth using to stylize your mechs or chassis!!!

Does the end truly justify the means??? For this particular novel, what the major protagonists did seem to.......

Book two, WOW!!!! Another page turning book, pringles in book form once you start you can not stop, the second book introduces the forgotten practice of sin casting or the path of the flame, the magic system for this reality, lost when the Ascendant gain dominance, Mr. Tucker is truly in his element for this one, every bend of the corner surprises abound, I hope he still has some left, for I will continue reading this series!!!

okkkkkk.........so again, I want to reiterate my conception of this series at the horror version of Harry Potter, both are truly wonderful coming of age stories, a lot of learning, a lot of mistakes but still in the end, we see our “kid” hero triumph over his enemies!!

So for book four, I just sat around reading it, without any intention of finishing it, maybe jump to a new one, or visit some previous unfinished ones, but the opening chapter seemed to capture my attention, and unknowingly I was half way through!!!!

If the past three books is any indication to fleshing out Mr. Delaney's world, well this one brought out some more faces to our different witches, ummmm British witches, really a mean lot and truly not to be trifled with!!!! Here we learn about the Malkins, Deanes and a new opponent Mouldheels, truly this is an interesting read...........also we learn a little bit more of Tom's relatives on the mother side......and hoooo boy!!!!

Again another interesting time ahead..........

After a disappointment, my usual method of holding of this emotion is try to read anything that has devils, demons, any pantheon of gods/goddeses or dragons, again I find myself opening another Christopher Rowley or Bazil Broketail and Relquin(I find putting in the dragonboy is a much better description, since most of time we are treated to Relquin's point of view, hardly any of Baz's), and suffice to say, it paid off, not only was I able to battle and win against that particular emotion but the reading of this book, made me EXCITED again to battle it out!!!

Dragon's of War for me was a bit of a turn off, going against the might of the great enemy the whole affair pales in comparison to Battledragon, from the beginning we are already shown what will happen to this particular book, a pity I thought “HE WHO MUST”, was going to be a fine villain, and yet the real villain turned out to be much better in comparison, this is one of the strength of Mr. Rowley, from the beginning you already know who the opponent is and yet the topsy turvy way of reaching the end of the story comes as a surprise always.....Again a good read this one, nothing to say but book five here I come!!!

Werewolves and Wizards, naturally a great combination, in any settings this should be a pulse pounding, never-ending fight, who does not love a werewolf, the natural enemy of the vampire and one of the most lethal supernatural opponent any do-gooder avoids!!! Wizards, by definition the only class or character that can actually go toe to toe with the supernatural!!!

Yet, with this book, I feel I just entered the twilight zone, the antagonists are great, what you would expect from persons afflicted with this particular curse(by reading the book, and on Mr. Dresden's universe, this curse comes in three forms and this was the only interesting part of the book for me), the protagonist or the hero of this book was a letdown, a whiner, wizards for me are supposed to be the ultimate class, in raw power nothing beats a wizard and yet we get a Dresden, someone who adheres to his version of the round table, the White Council, maybe I am used to wizards who do what they perceive as the best course and to hell with the consequences!!!! Dresden not only second guess himself most of the times, has a really really old school way of thinking and most of all, a hero who blames himself for everything, there is even a dream version wherein he talks to himself and try to defend his view............

I have never done a DNF, for me all authors have their good and bad moments, and as a fantasy book lover or enthusiast, we owe it to them to finish their works, but this one just made me WANT TO!!!!!

I love it!!!!!! To me a book is a treasure if it has demons, devils, gods and dragons!!!! Legend of Huma was my favorite, then Christopher Rowley's Baz Broketail series and along came Naomi Novik's Tremeraire!!!

Absolutely recommended, the tale simply drags you in, and even after the last page, you simply want to continue, a story of man and dragons, so what is so different about this???? Well the concept was simple 18th century world, but with a twist, here there be Dragons!!!! Always wanted to use that phrase!!! Simple storytelling but the details of the relationship between man and dragon, it's like Ms. Novik truly has a dragon companion, the way they interact, how they go about their daily routine, simple, simple yet effective,you could almost believe it's real!!!

And add to the fact, that we are in Britain!!! Love those accents, imagine Laurence with that accent, his companions, of course Tremeraire English/French, what a book!!!!

Plot, oh you guys can read the summary, curious???? Dive in then, and together we shall fly with Tremeraire, Maximus and Lily and a whole lot more!!!

Interesting.........very very interesting, up until the last page, I am still guessing, thinking and re-thinking on this book, we have new creatures never seen before, naugrimm, kragh(this one I am really excited) and another take on a magic system(reminds me of dark sun, magic uses the life force of anything alive, the more you use magic, the more you destroy your surroundings!!) and knights......who doesn't love knights, armored, noble, a twisted opinion on their own self worth and the people they govern!!!!

All in all a truly new twist on the fantasy genre......Book Two here I come!!!!

More of a 3.5, than an actual 4............on second thought, that fight at the end might have clinched it for me..........

So in this second book for Warhammer Online, everything is different from the first book, a new group of heroes and villains, here we are introduced to the Druchii, the mirrorimage of the elf in this universe albeit of a darker path, unfortunately, for me that is they were used sparingly(I would have prefered a bigger role for our dark elf(S)), as usual the Elves(they do not call them that I think, Elf singular = Elves plural) got the best part of the whole straightforward story, even a glimpse of Karl Franz ,the Emperor of the Empire of Man, was a bit of a letdown...........

Fortunately, that slow pace to the final battle was every bit as exciting as they come, even if you already know where the story is headed to........witch hunters, knights, traitors galore and yes!!! Do read the book!!! No spoilers nor an inkling of what to expect, just the end of the Empire of Man in a slow moving manner!!!

On to book three!!!!

Second book of this fantastic series, again from the start, it is all non stop action, the Event group, and a fitting name to this assemblage of the best and brightest soldiers, scientists and etc..........

As usual the tale, starts long, long time ago, to be exact during the Spanish expansion into the new world.......the Spaniards have enslaved another Incan civilization and were led into another quest for hidden treasures(I am quite unsure if El Dorado was the first or this one the so called “Padilla Expedition”, people there is a real Padilla Expedition, this fiction just shows you how potent Mr. Golemon's imagination is!!).....suffice to say what happened to that fateful journey is one of the reason why we have this Event............

Aside from the main story of the Padilla Expedition, we also have the side story of the powerful figures in the American government and to what extent they can do to hide the truth.......

Event Three here I come!!!!

4 star for a fantasy novel............let's see we have Dwarf(whether singular or plural, still my favorite race....Bruenor anyone??? Or Flint), elf (“looks at you and sniffs!!”) and of course humans (insert your favorite name here>>) and a quest that is supposed to test their mettle........WOW!!! Time to sit down and start this.........

Ok, opening chapter, we got undead attacking a human village(umm......yes good start, undead always a measure of the difficulty of opponents), human cleric/paladin introduced, elf ranger(??) comes in and both were able escape certain death, next comes a witch hunter and yey(!!) Dwarf knight(I only guess, Thorrik came out wearing a full suit of armor.....so I guess), a human knight and after some more time the whole group goes out as a team/fellowship/party.......

Ok......, so you noticed only Thorrik was named, ok...ok....we have Annaliesse(human cleric/paladin), Eldonair (elf ranger), Udo(witch hunter), Karl(human knight)......I think I got them all, the problem with reading warhammer fantasy is the names, most of them reads and feel like german.......

So, continuing our party races to their destination, each preoccupied with personal problems, and upon reaching their destination, they see the forces arrayed against them, of course after a tremendous battle against impossible odds, I was wondering where and how the writer was going to save the party.......and here comes the cavalry..........I think in reading this one, you will understand why I was particularly unhappy with the climax....hence the negative one star......

This is a good entry level for a beginner of fantasy, not a lot of subplots, straight to the point story, and a what we call saving grace ending........sighhhhhhhhh...........Sigmar could have..........next book please!!!

Actually I finished this four days ago, I have tried to write anything.......to put into words on what I felt, it is an amazing read, what can you expect, it's from Mr. Brandon Sanderson...........there is never a dull moment in reading his stories, the only complaint I have.......why do you kill off some of your more interesting characters.........DANG!!!

Elantris, look around your city, your country......you might recognize something like it, a minority as Elantrians, you might be a Fjordellian or Teodian, depends on your thinking and personality.......actually finishing the book, I was ready to write something grandiose and emotional, and then I read Mr. Sanderson's rambling, and everything melted away........gone all gone........

I am rambling, I do not understand why......I read the first Mistborn trilogy, I was not affected by it, while it was a brilliant story, this one truly felt heartfelt.........I guess you really are a GREAT writer Mr. Sanderson!!!

Funny......I read and re-read this and still I am scratching my head........oh well.............

Hrrrnnnnn.......grrrrrrhhhh...........raaaaahhhhhhhhhh.............boooooommmmm.....

Seriously, zombies, in books, if not overkill, the human race is doomed, the easiest of the undead to kill, my first attempt to read one and it's like skimming the whole book, until the last few chapters. Otherwise a fun read(I guess)

Another installment in Mr. Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles, bit by bit we are introduced to his wonderful/dark universe(for me it is a bit teen-ish????), first two books introduced to us the particular creepy crawlies that inhabit his particular world, boggarts, witches, ghasts, ghosts and a the Bane(again I prefer to ask the people who read my rant/rave section to discover by their own, rather than give spoilers)!!

For Book Three, the story of Thomas Ward continues, here we are introduced to some more of the mythos that makes this a good read, pacing is as always slow then builds up to the climax whether you have predicted the ending or not, add to this, we finally read the humane side of The Spook!!

Not much else here, so until the next Chronicles..............